


One Perfect Feather

by DoctorBilly



Series: Life goes on… [4]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Billyverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-09 02:18:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3232583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorBilly/pseuds/DoctorBilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billy gets his first tattoo</p><p>Tags: tattoos; pain as a coping mechanism </p><p>Written for Let's Write Sherlock challenge 18 (A First Time For Everything)</p><p>This story is set before <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/124692">Sea Glass and Tattoos</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	One Perfect Feather

"Right then, Bill. Ready?"

Billy nods, grinning, and hands the rough towel to Blue Charlie. Charlie spreads it over the back of the squat's only chair, an old ladderback dining chair, found in a skip the week before. The towel will take ages to dry, but with luck it shouldn't go mouldy. Billy offers Charlie the bar of carbolic soap he has used to scrub with.

"Keep it, Bill. If we can get you working, you'll be able to buy something a bit kinder to your skin."

Billy frowns.

"Do you think they'll take me on, Charlie?"

"Don't know, Bill. But they're interested in seeing your art. Let's go."

 

*********

 

"I'm sorry. We just haven't got the cash flow to take on someone new. It would be different if you were more… decorative. If you had a bit of ink, and could stand in the doorway to attract customers. Even better if you were a girl…"

Billy laughs, bitterly.

"Sorry I'm not a girl. Bit too tall to pass, I suppose…"

Blue Charlie clears his throat.

"Is Marco about? He was interested in looking at Bill's sketchbook…"

The receptionist nods towards the back of the studio.

"Green door. He's got a booking in ten minutes, though."

Billy and Charlie follow the directions and end up in an untidy kitchen/restroom. Marco the tattoo artist greets Charlie like an old friend, and grins at Billy.

"Charlie says you draw?"

Billy nods, and pulls out his sketchbook. Marco flips through it and hands it back.

"Not the sort of drawing we need. Take a look at Charlie. Someone drew that lot for him. That's the sort of thing I'm interested in. Stuff that people will want to wear. Stuff they'll love."

"I can sketch something. Something _I'd_ like…"

"All right." Marco glances at the clock. "My client'll be here now for a consultation. I'll be about forty five minutes, see what you can do in that time."

 

*********

 

Marco sucks in a breath, whistles it out between his teeth.

"This is good. Do the feathers full size and they'd make great flash."

"Flash?"

Marco grins.

"That's what we call art that we turn into transfers for tattooing. You said you want a tattoo?"

"Yeah. I want _this_ one. I've got a birthmark I want covered up."

Marco looks at the drawing doubtfully.

"That's a lot of ink, Bill. It would take a long time, a number of sessions. It would hurt. And it would cost a lot…"

"How much?"

"Overall, something that size and that detailed, two and a half, three grand…"

Billy laughs, and folds his drawing away.

"That's that, then. I'd never afford that. Sorry to have bothered you."

He gets up and makes to walk to the doorway. Marco stops him.

"Can I see the birthmark?"

"I don't like anyone seeing it. Why do you want to?"

"I've got an idea."

Billy flushes and pulls off his hoody and the t-shirt he is wearing underneath it. He turns so Marco can see his back.

"It's not very deeply pigmented." He traces the rust-brown lines of the birthmark gently with the pads of his fingers. "Lovely skin. How far does it extend?"

Billy shivers.

"Down that side, over my bum and halfway down the back of my leg. It doesn't get any darker."

"All right. Put your shirt back on and let's have another look at that sketch."

Marco picks up a pencil and starts to edit Billy's work.

"You won't need heavy filling and shading, and you can lose some of the bulk on the shoulder, and I think it'll look better if we extend it down to your ankle."

"I can't afford it, Marco."

"Bill, I've got a proposition for you. I can't offer you work, but I can offer you a really good tattoo, inked over a period of time to be decided, but probably a few months, in exchange for two things."

"What things?"

"First, you practice drawing flash, and you make yourself available to sketch from customer ideas now and then."

"Okay. What's the other thing?"

"You let me tattoo you in public."

Billy flushes.

"What do you mean, in public?"

"In the window of the studio. We could set up a couch, arrange it so people outside could watch…"

"Why?"

"It would be brilliant publicity. It'd be performance art, Bill."

"I don't know…"

"You'll get a tattoo worth several thousand pounds. A good tattoo, Bill. Charlie will tell you how good I am. You'll get your birthmark hidden, and your art will get noticed. You'll get artist fees for any of your flash we use, as well."

"I need to think about it, Marco."

"Course you do. Take a few days."

 

*********

 

Billy sighs, eyes fluttering closed. Marco smiles and gently wipes blood from the outline of one perfect feather on Billy's shoulder.

"All right, Bill? Didn't hurt you too much?"

"I feel high, Marco. Without drugs. I didn't know I could feel this good without drugs."

"You've got to keep off them. I didn't notice any new tracks…"

"It's been months. I promised someone I wouldn't use any more, but I've come close to breaking my promise sometimes. The cravings…"

"Well, if you get a bad jones going on, come and see me. We can do this as slow as you like, a feather or two at a time."

"What's a jones?"

"Slang for craving. Jones, jonesing, you know." Marco smiles. "The pain releases endorphins, makes you feel good. We'll figure out how much you need between us. Think you'll be ready to do it in public next week? A bit more on the shoulder?"

Billy nods, eyes shining, endorphins racing through him.

"Yeah. I want more."


End file.
